So what's next?

I'm beginning to think about my employment options for the future. Still don't know if I will pass to the next phase of the exam, and if I do, whether I actually get a spot, and if I do, whether or not the legal challenges will succeed and get the whole thing thrown out.

The change in government has brought new budget cuts-- the new president has announced that they will not hold new exams or replace retiring workers in the public sector, except for basic services, which looks like it will be interpreted as only Security Forces, not security, healthcare, and education.

The future of the program I am currently working in is uncertain at best. I don't know if I will have a job there next year or not.

Of course as a native speaker English teacher, I have much better chances than most at being hired in the private/concertado sector, but even so it would mean competing against all of the teachers who will no longer be working in the public system-- for a limited number of jobs (and at this point anyone who does have a job in the private sector will be holding onto it tightly!)

Another option, if the exam process is not invalidated and I pass but don't get a spot, is to work as a long-term sub. This might be okay, but they can send you anywhere in the whole Community of Madrid, and if you don't accept what they give you, they drop you from the list. If it is a fairly long-term sub, like a few months, it might be worth it, but if it's just a few weeks here and there, it would be extremely difficult to juggle work and school pick-ups, etc. with a new schedule and new travel arrangements every few weeks. They don't take into consideration your geographic area, so a sub from the north could be traveling almost two hours in public transportation every day to get to her sub job in the south, while someone who lives in the same town as that school has to travel two hours north to get to her job (yes, this really does happen.) If I end up on the sub list, I would have to weigh very caefully the pros and cons depending on what I was offered.

In any case, I need to concentrate on preparing for the next part of the exam, and then see what happens with everything else before I can really know what my options are...